The ''Twelfth Letter of Plato'', also known as ''Epistle XII'' or ''Letter XII'', is an

epistle An epistle (; el, ἐπιστολή, ''epistolē,'' "letter") is a writing directed or sent to a person or group of people, usually an elegant and formal didactic letter. The epistle genre of letter-writing was common in ancient Egypt as par ...

that tradition has ascribed to

Plato Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...

, though it is almost certainly a

literary forgery Literary forgery (also known as literary mystification, literary fraud or literary hoax) is writing, such as a manuscript or a literary work, which is either deliberately misattributed to a historical or invented author, or is a purported memoir ...

. Of all the ''Epistles'', it is the only one that is followed by an explicit denial of its

authenticity Authenticity or authentic may refer to: * Authentication, the act of confirming the truth of an attribute Arts and entertainment * Authenticity in art, ways in which a work of art or an artistic performance may be considered authentic Music * A ...

in the manuscripts. In the

Stephanus pagination Stephanus pagination is a system of reference and organization used in modern editions and translations of Plato (and less famously, Plutarch) based on the three-volume 1578 edition''Platonis opera quae extant omnia'' edidit Henricus Stephanus, Ge ...

, it spans 359c–e of Vol. III. Like the ''Ninth Letter'', the ''Twelfth Letter'' is purportedly addressed to

Archytas Archytas (; el, Ἀρχύτας; 435/410–360/350 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosopher, mathematician, music theorist, astronomer, statesman, and strategist. He was a scientist of the Pythagorean school and famous for being the reputed founder ...

. It thanks him for sending

some treatises, which it then goes on to praise effusively, declaring its author worthy of his ancestors and including in their number Myrians,

colonists A settler is a person who has migrated to an area and established a permanent residence there, often to colonize the area. A settler who migrates to an area previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited may be described as a pioneer. Settle ...

from

Troy Troy ( el, Τροία and Latin: Troia, Hittite language, Hittite: 𒋫𒊒𒄿𒊭 ''Truwiša'') or Ilion ( el, Ίλιον and Latin: Ilium, Hittite language, Hittite: 𒃾𒇻𒊭 ''Wiluša'') was an ancient city located at Hisarlik in prese ...

during the reign of

Laomedon In Greek mythology, Laomedon (; grc, Λαομέδων means "ruler of the people") was a Trojan king, son of Ilus and thus nephew of Ganymede and Assaracus. Family Laomedon's mother was variously identified as Eurydice,Apollodorus3.12.2/ ...

. It then promises to send to Archytas some of Plato's unfinished treatises.

Diogenes Laërtius Diogenes Laërtius ( ; grc-gre, Διογένης Λαέρτιος, ; ) was a biographer of the Ancient Greece, Greek philosophers. Nothing is definitively known about his life, but his surviving ''Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers'' is a ...

preserves this letter in his ''

Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers Diogenes Laërtius ( ; grc-gre, Διογένης Λαέρτιος, ; ) was a biographer of the Greek philosophers. Nothing is definitively known about his life, but his surviving ''Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers'' is a principal sourc ...

'', as well as a letter from Archytas which presumably occasioned the ''Twelfth Letter''; This letter points to the treatises having been those of Ocellos of Lucania, a

Pythagorean Pythagorean, meaning of or pertaining to the ancient Ionian mathematician, philosopher, and music theorist Pythagoras, may refer to: Philosophy * Pythagoreanism, the esoteric and metaphysical beliefs purported to have been held by Pythagoras * Ne ...

. Because the writings which are attributes to Ocellos are

forgeries Forgery is a white-collar crime that generally refers to the false making or material alteration of a legal instrument with the specific intent to defraud anyone (other than themself). Tampering with a certain legal instrument may be forbidd ...

from the First Century BC, the ''Twelfth Letter'' is probably also a forgery, and by the same forger, intended to stamp the treatises with Plato's authority. There is no other mention of a Trojan colony in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

from the reign of Laomedon, let alone of

Lucania Lucania was a historical region of Southern Italy. It was the land of the Lucani, an Oscan people. It extended from the Tyrrhenian Sea to the Gulf of Taranto. It bordered with Samnium and Campania in the north, Apulia in the east, and Brutti ...

or the Lucani having been descended from the otherwise unknown "Myrians." R. G. Bury also notes that the ''Twelfth Letter'', along with the ''Ninth'', spell

with an α, whereas Plato spells it in more authoritative epistles with an η (Αρχύτης).Bury, Epistle XII, 607; cf. ''Seventh Letter'' 338c, 339b, 339d, 350a, ''Thirteenth Letter'' 360c.

Text

Footnotes

References

* Bury, R. G., ed. (1942) ''Timaeus, Critias, Cleitophon, Menexenus, Epistles''.

Loeb Classical Library The Loeb Classical Library (LCL; named after James Loeb; , ) is a series of books originally published by Heinemann in London, but is currently published by Harvard University Press. The library contains important works of ancient Greek and L ...

. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. *

. ''

''. *

. ''Seventh Letter''. {{Authority control Epistles of Plato

Text

See also

Footnotes

References